I wouldnt of thought they would lie but you do get the odd advisor that says anything to get you off the phone. If your claim is processed and authorised a payment shedule should take 48 hours min and 5 days max, phone them up and see if dates are added. You can possibley ask DWP see if they can give you a crisis loan but i think that is dependant on certain criteria and benefits. You really do need to see a CAB officer they should help and maybe tell you what help you can get so you can keep your job. hope all goes well

If you decide to live with a new partner you may not get investigated I think the reason you are now is because its your husband but It is all down to whom is investigating you. If you are struggling and need payment you can try and phone the tax credit helpline to see if they can help, they used to do hardship payments if you could prove that if you dont get your tax crddit payment soon it could put your job and your self in financial difficulty and they may send you to your local office but dont take what I have said for fact as many things have changed. If you can contact your CAB officer and get an appointment and see if he can help . Iam sorry cant help any further.

Hi and welcome. Unfortunatly these checks do happen more so with you splitting apart from your partner. If you get back with him you may be investigated again this is all down to fraud and is mainly generated by a computer and then picked up by a tax credit officer. I wouldnt worry too much aslong as you are telling teh truth and have proof you will be fine. I know it is a pain but it has to be done as you can imagine how much fraud goes on and with tax credit unfortunatly people claim partner has left but has not . Atleast with this way you can know that you are doing everything correct and once it is passed by an officer there is no come backs to you as you done everything they ask. Again I hope you can understand whythey are doing this. If you have any further questions I will try and answer them for you

Hi I have been reading about your situation. To be honest I dont think it will be easy to get this overpayment overturned. On your award notice it does state clearly that if anything changes e.g change of income , living with a partner etc you should contact them as soon as it happens. Now the reason for such a big overpayment , this is due to the fact they cancel her single claim from the date you moved in so any money paid to here she was not entitled to as a single claiment. a IVA won clear any government owed debt as under rules any money owed to the public/government must be paid back. It is true that an overpayment can be paid back via an ongoing claim but as you said it is now a new claim so this can not be done. You can however make a standing order where as soon as your tax credits hits your account your bank will automaticly pay whatever percentage you agree too. Now lets see if I can help you atleast get this overpayment down. As you have saideven as a joint couple you were probably entitled to the same payments. Now what you need to do is to try and get your joint claim backdated to the date the single claim was ended and that should leave you with a lump sum payment which would cover the current overpayment. Your major hurdle here is trying to get them to backdate it this far as they very rarely do this but it has happened before unfortunatly I cant give you any information on that due to data protection etc. What you need to do now is go and see a CAB officer and also possibly a free session with a solicitor who deals with benefit claim. Baisically the overpayment will probably stand but you are now trying to get a claim backdated to the date the single claim was terminated. I hope this help but I must stress that this is only my view on things and that the tax credit system has changed since the last time I worked there so this is why I advise you to see your CAB officer sooner thebetter as the longer you leave it the harder it will be to solve this issue. hope all goes well

I agree 100% , they dont seem to grasp how much stress we get and like you say if he could work he would, I would also love to get back to work as I miss the money but at the moment I cant. I hope your claim is sorted soon as i can onlyimagine how much stress and sleepless nights you have had.

Yea in the last 3 years its all stats stats stats!!!!!. Its not how it used to be in public sector, although you had targets you were able to do your work at a steady pace and to a good degree, but now all these management types who dont listen to the actual workers have made it a nightmare not only for the workers but also the public. Just think office workers dealing with papers etc now have heavy stats just think what a callcentre worker has to put up with. Onto another issue which I seem to pickup on is how bias some DWP staff are towords diabled people claiming benefits. I think yes there are a few people like that but a good majority are very nice people and are hindered by rules and stats/figures handed down to them from management. Anyway I do hope you get this sorted as I think it is very it is a discrace what you have put up with, I just hope I dont have to go through this if or when my review comes up because at the moment I my self couldnt handle the extra stress as I am trying my best to make sure I can keep the use of my legs which at the moment i have but I am worried about the troubles I am having at present.

Hi Lets see if i can help. There are cases where processing an aplication takes quite some time , this could be due to computer error or awaiting information etc. Iam not sure if they still do this but your local office may do hardship payments but you would need to phone the tax credit line first to make sure ... explain that you may need to quit you job due to hardship etc. Also if it is your child benefit thats the issue and you aplication is on the system you may be able to go to your local office and take your benefit book or proof of child benefit with child benefit number to them with other form of identification too, but again phone the help line to see if this is possible. If you are no further forward ask to put in a formal complaint and request a ring back a.s.a.p . You may also want to go to your local CAB office for advice and if you want to make them go into a more higher gear contact you mp and ask hime to contact them to ask why there is such a long time in processing the claim. I must also stress that it is that time of year when all renewals of tax credits is in full swing and delays are possible. Sorry for any spelling mistakes etc as iam typing rather quick.

When you filled in the form you should have been advised that your partner needed a temp NI number and her full details also documented. As you have said you informed them as soon as you noticed the error which I assume you noticed on your acceptance award. Your main problem is gettinf the proof you need and all calls should be recorded and stored in a database and your account will have a ID number for that specific call. Now you said your wrote to them on several occasions , do you have a copy of the letters you have sent ? You really need to get some legal help or even talk to a local CAB advisor.

I would not tell them lies as they can check , You are better telling the truth than telling a lie. Remember if you do have an overpayment you can pay this back via ongoing claims. If you think the weekly or monthly ammount you are paying back is too much and will cause you hardship you can ask them to change the ammount but this will depend on certain criteria. No matter who you are people make mistakes and in your situation your mistake was not noticed untill late on. Its always best to tell the truth. on a side not your best times to ring them is when everyone is picking the kids up or taking them to school

glad everything is sorted for you you will be suprised how often that kind of problem happens! :O

Hi Iam glad to see you have this sorted. Unfortunatly the contact centres have no form of verble communications to the tax credit office and only able to send electronic form of communication. You can request a call back from the if you complain but iam unsure if they do that now. However if you contact you MP about the problems you have had and explain your situation and get him to formally complain, you may see things move faster. Saying that TAX CREDITS may not exist soon if the conservatives get incontroll but that wont happen fast.

I hope you sort this out as I used to work on tax credits and understand why so many people make errors and dont understand some of the paper work that come through. I must stress though always phone in a change and if unsure about any letters received seek advice of ring the help line up as any overpayment can not be disputed if a) "Ignorance of the fact" not understanding the letter or reading it. b) Not informing of any change that would alter your award , ie increase in wage or hours or a child that does not stay on at school or higher education or a child no longer lives with you etc. I dont think you will have a big overpayment if it was only a short time as in 30 days etc . Hope it all works out for you.

It should be ok as it looks like it was just a mailing error. I would advise you to ring up on tuesday and ask if your payments have been reinstated, hopefully your payment schedule will be updated and show you payment date.

If you job is low paid you may not have a large overpayment. If you job is also low paid and you work 16 hours part time or 30 + hours full time you may be entitled to working tax credit. As stated previous any overpayment will be deducted from next years award.

Hi This is srt of a comon thing withing tax credits due to fraud but also down to royal mail making errors to. Basically if tax credit mail that is important is sent back to the tax credit office because it couldnt be delivered someone updates the system and the claim is suspended as it thinks you are claiming by fraud. Basically you and your partner will get a joint letter each and by the looks of it one of them did not arrive and was returned which makes the tax crdit system think you are not living togeather anymore. Basically you and your partner would both need to phone the tax credit department and confirm you both are living togeather and confirm your address you may be asked to go to your local office to prove this. Once the sytem is updated and correctly holds the information the system will then restart your claim. Normally this takes 48 hours but in some rare occasions may take longer due to some system error. Your payment I am affraid will not be paid for another few more days after that. If you think you will suffer hardship due to this error you may be able to get an emergancy payment but I can not gaurentee that as its been a while since I have updated my self on the latest tax credits rules. Apologies for any spelling and grammer mistakes as I am typing fast I hope this help and someone more upto date may clarify this for you.

So if the government refuse benefits because someone refuses to do free work they stop benefit. Under european LAW does this not breach human rights ? making people starve because they are ill ? Sounds like american healthcare "PAY or DIE" It seems like we are in a dictatorship. What annoys me is they remove peolple off esa or IB . Where are the jobs coming from ? 3 million people are on JSA, who is going to hire a disabled person who is unable to work ? they wont get insurance cover for any accidents at work .... If someone with a servere back pain sue to degenerative bone or nerve damage looses the ability to work due to them being forced to work, can they sue the government ? it will cost more in compensation than it would have been to keep them on ESA or IB. Cancer patient Has 3 years to live but is fit for work .... He/she cant live the life to the fullest because they are forced to work. Its shocking but what can we do ? we have no-one to vote for who can offer what we need. rant over

its a discrace After years with my disability I thought good we are at a point where we are sort of treated good. For many years when I was younger and wearing a full body brace many mothers forbid there children from playing with me because they thought they would catch something. I now more recently when I was working had many disgruntled people and many high up managers treat me with no respect and do not understand the full problems which cause us problems doing work and this is from a government agency. They eaither dont understand the disability discrimination act or are just plain ignoring it. I just hope these changes do not come into force and if they do I hope europe shut them down as I beleive this not only infringes our human rights but is also discrimination againt people with disabilities.

Yea this can be very annoying and can cause alot of anger and depression at the same time due to worrying. You have done the correct thing appealing the desision and requesting information to how this has happened. Normally under overpayment rules , if you were unaware of the overpayment and assumed any payment made to you was correct you normally dont have to pay it back. But you must prove that you didnt know this as ignorance to the fact e.g not reading a letter correctly would not count. From what you say you are unaware of any kind of overpayment and infact you handed all you giro books back upon employment. Await a reply to see what they say I would also make an appointment to you local CAB office to see if they can also help. I am sure someone else will be along soon to clarify some of this up for you and may even offer better help or advice . Hope it all works out for you.

Wow what a load of bull he spouts. I worked for HMRC and fell ill due to my disabilities. Lets put it this way there was plenty of discrimination towards me and at all times plenty of attempts to fire me and infact they did ... however I started formal procedings and before they went fully ahead they decided to change the decision to fire me and to retire me on ill health... and due to the long lengh of replies etc I was outside the date to take them to court for discrimination.... I just wish I knew then what I knew now. All I wanted was them to keep my job open in a suitable place while i try and have myoperation and recoup to some sort of health that allowed me to get back to work , now with all the stress etc am still unwell and awaiting further treatment to help me with the servere pain iam in ... So our government spouts one rule but dont follow them in house. HR and management attitude was I work you should ... tey auto assumed my back and nerve problems were a simple back ache wich everyone gets.

The system is tied in to experian so you will get questions about previous employers as the HMRC will have that on record but it could also ask questions that experian will only know like who supplied you last bank load etc ... Its scary to think that inland revenue/HMRC can look into your financial goings.. But yea they now use this to identify you.

This is shocking and is pure bias to people with disabilities I would also go to the extremes to say is embarresing to people who have disabilities and in fact to me it sounds how you would describe racism. Infact they seem to have ignored any terms of human rights ... in fact actual bombers murderers and criminals have better human rights than actual people with true disabilities . At the moment I cant sit or stand for more than 10 mins without servere discomfort infact after a few minutes of sitting I am in servere paind. But what is more shocken if I read those new terms correctly is if you have no arms you can use your mouth to pick something up. If the government want to save money try reducing think tanks which get maid many hundresds of thousands of pounds a year per person for nothing.... or 500 million pounds a year to a police think tank to discover that they can save 500 million by reducing police staff .... Conservatives get in they get rid of benefits to keep the rich rich and if labour get back in we get tougher medicals and more money going to crinimals to help them live a private life so noone knows who they are or what they do ... and if lib dems get in they will abolish NHS and introduce medical insurance so no disabled person will be able to get a cover that covers the disabilities they have.

congrats on your appeal it should never had went as far as it did. With my disabilities you would think a government run buisness I worked for would do all they can to get you back to work. The government department I worked for was more on the lines of trying to fire me than to help, they eventualy got there way but I faught hard but eventualy the best result I could get was medically retired. Just goes to show the government likes to take credit with statistics about helpin disabled people but under another breath they do everything they can to hinder us.

If I remeber correctly but do not quote me on this a 30 minute medical from ATOS will cost £400 per person for the government.

yea I am on DLA but only mobility. Looking at the esa it looks like I will be on less money than what iam on now with incapacity benefit. I assume when they decide to move me over to esa I will need a medical. Looking at some of the problems people have been having with these medicals I dont look forward to going for one of those, the previous medicals I went for were bad enough as they said I could walk about 20 mile without problems.

Hi all hope someone can help. Iam currently on incapacity benefit and most recently have been medicaly retired by the Government agency I worked for and all this at the age of 30 I have many congenital defects which cause me alot of pain etc and have had major surgery on and around my spinal cord. Anyways due to the seriousness of my illness I was unable to move out of my parents home and still currently live with them. At the moment I only get the incapacity benefit and thats it, I get no help with dental treatment or prescriptions. My current monthly medications which involve morphine costs me £30+ a month or cheaper with a prepayment card. At the moment I am struggling to live on what i get and everytime i apply for help with ddental and prescriptions they say I am earning too much money from incapacity benefit. They do not count money I give to my parents as an expenditure but I have to pay for towards the electric and gas and food etc I also have debt on a Credit Card which I can not get the insurance to pay for it as the medical condition was pre-existant. I do have a mobility car which I do need to get out and about but beyond that no other income. Is there anything I can do or get which can help me? my last dental bill was £200 thats alot of money for someone to pay thats just on IB. I hope someone can help. kind regards